Cause of Death
by Lala to the power of 2
Summary: When all was said and done, there were still four dead bodies the coroner couldn't quite explain.


Shiranui Shizune had always loved mysteries. When she was a girl, she used to stay up late at night, burrowed under a fort made from her bedsheets, reading detective novels by flashlight so that her mother wouldn't scold her for being up past her bedtime. She had wanted to be a part of that world, be a great detective solving mysteries and crimes; but she had known early on she didn't have a knack for it. So instead, she became a coroner. She uncovered the mysteries not of the crime itself, but instead of the victim- every body told a story.

Were they bound before they were killed? Did they have drugs in their system? Was there sexual assault? Were there defensive wounds? Every question was another piece of the puzzle, another piece of evidence. Every answer provided another clue to solving the crime- even if she couldn't do it herself, she could at least help those who did.

Shizune loved her job.

At least, she HAD, until Kira showed up.

At first it was exciting- the likelihood of sudden cardiac arrest happening in all these people was so low- it was thrilling to be part of the case, the Kira case, as it was named.

But there were no foreign substances. No chemical that would cause cardiac failure like she had expected in a case like this- just ventricular tachycardia- the heart beat speeding up so rapidly that it cuts off blood flow; the only difference being the arrhythmia causing death within forty second rather than the typical four to six minutes.

So Kira's victims were static, boring, and completely unhelpful.

And what's worse? The number of death by any other means had fallen drastically.

So, for the past six years, Shiranui Shizune's most interesting cases were drug overdoses, because murders had practically just stopped happening in Tokyo. Not that the lack of murder was bad- she did have a sense of justice. It's just that… People had _died_ to get that number down. And the world right now was being controlled by _fear._

Until that day. January 29th, four bodies were delivered to her lab that were not only far more interesting than the others, but one of which she would soon realize would change the world back to the way it once was.

The first two arrived from a different lab- the forensic detective from had finished his analysis, and because it was such an important case, they were sent to her for a second opinion.

So she already knew about Takada Kiyomi- former famed announcer for Kira and current charred brisket. It was just as reported on the news- with the exception of the fact that there were traces of gasoline on her body, patterned in such a manner that could only mean she had dumped it on herself (top of the head, running down the back and front, on the shoulders but not the rest of her arms).

What hadn't been reported was the state of the other body found in the warehouse. A young man, probably of European decent, died as the result of sudden cardiac arrest (neither unusual nor completely unexpected). The thing was…. There were second and third degree burn scars, perhaps three months old, covering thirty percent of his body. They had healed poorly and were hypertrophic- probably as a result of home treatment (the fact that no hospital databases had information on a patient of his description or burn patterns within the last four months collaborated on the self-treatment theory). He must have been in incredible pain, even after it had healed. Further investigation showed heavy smoke damage to the lungs- not terribly surprising considering the burns, and, of all things, his stomach contents, which consisted of little more than chocolate and the beginnings of an ulcer.

The third body, also brought over from the third district, had not been autopsied at all (they hadn't even bothered to remove the bullets from his body), and was only there because the other lab didn't actually have a long-term morgue due to it's small size (meaning that all of the third district's unidentified bodies were turned over to Shizune's lab). The reason for the lack of autopsy was obvious enough- and upon her own further investigation she realized that yes, she had wasted a little bit of time and effort by her closer inspection, as the only new thing she learned was that he was a smoker and had a poor diet. There was, interestingly enough, the same type of chocolate in his stomach as the other kidnapper. She wondered if that meant anything.

The last body was the one that really did it, though. This body didn't need a tag for her to identify him as Yagami Raito, of the Kira Task Force. She didn't have time to consider him another casualty of Kira, though- because no victim of Kira is ever shot four times first.

A bullet to the right wrist, left hand, right shoulder, and the left side of his abdomen. All non-fatal and deliberate. Cause of death: sudden cardiac arrest. And the bullets she pulled from him she could recognize as being from a police-issued handgun.

They were never sent to ballistics to be confirmed, though. Just as she was finishing up and about to send them across the lab, the door swung open and in walked a young man who may or may not have been albino.

"Ah. I'm too late for the autopsy, then." He said, glancing at what was left of Yagami.

Shizune nodded. "Yes. I just finished, and I'm just about to send the bullets I extracted to ballistics to try to identify the weapon."

He twirled a piece of his hair in his index finger. "There's no need for that."

She blinked. "There isn't? Even if you know who shot him, I still have to send them over..."

"You don't." He pulled out a badge from the front pocket of his pajamas and showed it to her. "I'm here with the SPK, a subset of the FBI, and am speaking on behalf of the NPA."

Shizune's eyes widened slightly, before wondering aloud, "Is that why no one made you put on shoes?"

He ignored her question, continuing. "Have you filled out your report yet?"

She shook her head.

"Good. Yagami Light was not shot. He died of a sudden cardiac arrest. Do you understand?"

Shizune thought for a moment. She thought some more. Having read detective novels all her life, while not giving her the skills to become one herself, had at least taught her to read a situation. She could at least recognize a puzzle when all the pieces were in front of her.

"So then... May I ask... Is he Kira's final victim?" She inquired hesitantly, veiling her true question.

The boy looked off to the side. "He is." He admitted. "Yagami Light and Kira killed each other. That is what the official records will say, and that is what we will tell his family. I trust you understand that no one needs to know this information."

She nodded. "I don't know anything sir. Yagami Raito died of cardiac arrest. As coroner, I can't infer or testify to anything other than that one fact." She said professionally, tossing the small vial of bullets to the boy.

He made no move to catch it. The container bounced off of his shoulder and hit the floor, where he picked it up before it rolled away. Truly a strange boy, this one.

He looked back at her. "Also, I understand you have two unidentified bodies currently in possession of the lab?"

Shizune didn't bother trying to mask her surprise, before walking over the the wall and pulling out two adjacent drawers.

The little albino looked down at the two cadavers, and for the first time since he walked in, Shizune thought she saw a flicker of emotion.

"Mihael Keehl and Mail Jeevas. I will claim possession of them to be dealt with at a later time." He said coldly.

Shizune observed him for a moment, as he took in the features of the fallen duo.

"So you knew them, I take it?"

He nodded.

"Do you... Want to talk about it?"

He shot her a look that spoke volumes about what he thought of her suggestion, her level of intelligence, and perhaps even her personal hygiene. She wasn't sure. It was a pretty good glare, though.

She raised her hands in defense. "Hey, it's me or I send you to Dr. Nara for grief counselling. And I don't think seeing him twice a week would be pleasant for either of you."

He rolled his eyes, before returning his gaze to the pair for another brief moment. "I'm not grieving. I just never thought that Matt would actually follow him this far. Or that Mello would do something so... Martyr-ish. A pity they had to end like this." he said, before turning around and walking towards the door again.

As Shizune pushed the drawers back into place, she couldn't help but ask one final question before the boy left.

"Say- which one of them shot him?"

He didn't turn to look at her, simply saying "It was Matsuda," before closing the door behind him.

Shiranui Shizune, aged thirty-one years, and married with no children, could only think one thing after this bizarre conversation and series of revelations that no one else was ever allowed to know.

"Matsuda Touta? Never thought he'd have it in him."


End file.
